1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a bracket for mounting a shock absorber to a vehicle body, and more particularly, to a bracket for mounting a shock absorber, which is made of an engineering plastic material.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a shock absorber is disposed between a vehicle body and a wheel, with an upper end of a piston rod secured to the vehicle body and a lower end of a cylinder (generally, referred to as an outer cylinder or tube) secured to a wheel side. To this end, the upper end of the piston rod is provided with an upper mounting structure which will be secured to the vehicle body, and the lower end of the cylinder is provided with a knuckle bracket which will be connected to an axle.
As shown in FIG. 1, an upper mounting structure of a prior shock absorber includes a bracket 110 formed of steel or aluminum by a press machining process, a general machining process or an iron or aluminum-casting process and a bush assembly 120 press-fitted into the bracket 110 with the upper end of the piston rod coupled thereto.
A cylindrical recess is formed at a central portion of a body 112 of the bracket 110 such that the bush assembly 120 may be press-fitted in the cylindrical recess as described above, and bolt fastening holes 113a are respectively formed on flanges 113 extending from opposite sides of the body 112 of the bracket 110 such that bolts may be inserted into the bolt fastening holes for coupling the bracket to the vehicle body.
The cylindrical recess is formed at a center thereof with a through-hole through which the piston rod can pass, and the body 112 of the bracket 110 is formed at a lower side thereof with a mounting portion on which a dust cover and a bumper stopper are mounted.
The bush assembly 120 includes a rubber 121 for preventing vibration of the wheel transmitted through the piston rod from being transmitted to the vehicle body, a plate embedded in the rubber 121, a washer and a nut for coupling the upper end of the piston rod to the plate, and a pipe member attached to an outer periphery of the rubber 121.
The pipe member has a cylindrical shape and is sized such that the bush assembly 120 can be press-fitted into the recess of the bracket 110, thereby preventing the bush assembly 120 from being separated from the bracket 110.
On the other hand, in the upper mounting structure of the conventional shock absorber described above, the bracket 110 has been formed by steel pressing, casting or aluminum injection molding. Here, the steel pressing or casting of the bracket 110 causes many restrictions in shape and size of the bracket and results in an excessively heavy weight of the bracket. The aluminum injection molding of the bracket can produce a bracket with relatively light weight, but requires considerable material and machining costs.